The cities Hamtramck and Highland Park are enclaves of the City of Detroit. Hamtramck is known for being home to a large Polish community. This is evidenced in many ways, such as the celebration of Pączki (pronounced: poonchki) Day. In 1970, 91% of the residents were Polish. However, today its only about 22% because many Poles have moved to other parts of the area, and because of a large immigration of people from the Middle East and South Asia.

Highland Park is home to several architecturally significant buildings. It is also home to the Highland Park Ford Plant, the first plant in the world to use the assembly line.

Contents

Understand

Highland Park is not highly regarded as safe city. Visitors should not visit Highland Park at all after dark. The city of Highland Park became financially insolvent in 2002 and it was largely placed under the control of the county government.

Hamtramck is home to numerous bars and entertainment venues which stay open 7 days a week until 2am. Exercising excessive caution is not necessary when visiting as since most of the neighborhoods are safe. Applying common sense as one would when visiting any city is all that is necessary.

Get in

See

Hamtramck

Landmarks

St. Florian Church, 2626 Poland Street, [1]. Built in 1928, this church is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Ralph Adams Cram designed the church in Late Gothic Revival and Bungalow/Craftsman styles.

Museums and galleries

Pr1mary Space, on Yemans just west of Jos. Campau, [2]. Pr1mary Space displays a new show almost once a month. The gallery specializes in illustrative art of the post-pop era, basically graffiti art.

Highland Park

Landmarks

First United Methodist Church, 16300 Woodward Avenue. Built in 1916, the First United Methodist Church is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The church is an Arts and Crafts influenced, Gothic-style structure, constructed from red brick and trimmed with limestone.

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, 12375 Woodward Avenue. Built in 1929, Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The church is a small, random ashlar, limestone, Neo-Gothic-style building.

Highland Park Ford Plant. Designed by Albert Kahn and completed in 1910, the Highland Park Ford Plant was a production plant for Ford Motor Company. In 1913, the Highland Park Ford Plant became the first automobile production facility in the world to implement the assembly line. It is now used by Ford Motor Company to store documents and the Henry Ford Museum for artifact storage.

Highland Park General Hospital, 357 Glendale Avenue. Built in 1918, this hospital is listed on the U.S. Register of Historic Places. The hospital was one of the first two institutions established when Highland Park incorporated as a city in 1916. The Highland Park Hospital closed in 1976.

Highland Park Presbyterian Church, 14 Cortland. This church, built in 1910, is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It was constructed in a Tudor Gothic style from red brick with limestone trim and red terra cotta roof tiles.

Trinity United Methodist Church, 13100 Woodward Avenue. Built in 1922, this church was designed in the Neo-Gothic architecutral style, and was built from gray limestone.

Historic neighborhoods

Highland Heights-Stevens' Subdivision, on Farrand Park, McLean Street, Colorado Street, Rhode Island Street, and Massachusetts Street, between Woodward Avenue on the west and Oakland Avenue on the east.. This historic district composed of 422 homes, two apartment buildings, five commercial buildings, and a library was founded in the early twentieth century. Most of the homes were designed by Albert Kahn in Century Revivals and Bungalow/Craftsman architectural styles.

Medbury's-Grove Lawn Subdivisions, on Eason Street, Moss Street, and Putitan Street, from Hamilton Avenue on the west to Woodward Avenue on the east. This historic district is composed of 272 homes, most of which are designed in the Colonial Revival, Bungalow/Craftsman, and Tudor Revival architectural styles.

Palmer Park Boulevard Apartments, on 1981, 2003 and 2025 West McNichols Road. This historic district is composed of 3 apartment buildings designed in the Century Revival and Classical Revival architectural styles. All three were built in the 1920s and were designed by Richard H. Marr.

Do

Hamtramck Blowout. Annual local music festival held in March.

Hamtramck Labor Day Weekend Festival Celebration of the Polish cultural heritage including ethnic foods and music and a parade.

Pączki Day. Celebration of this sweet confection on the day before Lent begins.

Buy

Eat

Aladdin Sweets & Cafe, 11945 Conant Street, ☎+1 313 891-8050.

Polish Village Cafe, 2990 Yemans St, ☎+1 313 874-5726, [3]. Polish Village is a great place for authentic polish food, in a historic old cafe in the basement of this Hatramck home. Try the dill pickel soup and a huge beer.

Drink

Whiskey in the Jar, 2741 Yemans St., Hamtramck (near Jos. Campau St., 3 blocks south of Caniff), ☎(313) 873-4154. this eclectic bar was originally a speak-easy during prohibition located inside a house